Vulpix 1st Edition Base Set: The Rarest Blue Butt
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
1st Edition · Base Set 1999 · Vulpix #68/102
Vulpix is the six-tailed kitsune of Japanese folklore, and it is the one common in this batch whose 1st Edition is genuinely the hard copy to find — the blue-ink obstruction nicknamed the “Blue Butt” is scarcest on the stamp.
This page covers the 1st Edition printing specifically — the stamped, shadowless-stock version from the original January 1999 run. If you are unsure which of the Base Set Vulpix printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $39 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $38 | 8.6% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $72 | 20.9% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $133 | 38.2% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $799 | 22.8% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 9.5% |
Prices and population shares: the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, PSA only, September 2026. Shares are of all PSA-graded copies of this card, so they sum to 100% with the grade-6-and-below row. Grading cost basis $59.99 (PSA Standard). Comps move — verify current sold prices before transacting.
Live Now on eBay: 1st Edition Vulpix
What the card is actually being offered for right now. Every listing below is filtered to the genuine 1st Edition card — no repacks, mystery slabs, card skins, or multi-card lots. These are asking prices, not sold comps, so treat them as the top of the market rather than what copies are changing hands for. Buying through these links supports the site at no extra cost to you.
Loading current listings…
Which One Do You Have? The 3-Second Test
Most people who say “I have a 1st Edition Vulpix” don’t. Retail packs in 1999–2000 were overwhelmingly Unlimited printing — and that’s fine, it’s the same iconic card. The fast check, in order:
- Right edge of the art box: a dark drop shadow = Unlimited or 4th Print. No shadow = keep going.
- Left of the art box: a black “Edition 1” stamp = 1st Edition. No stamp + no shadow = Shadowless.
- Bottom copyright line: ©1999-2000 = 4th Print. The font weight is the tiebreaker — thin text means an early print.
Vulpix is a Basic Fire with 50 HP, illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Check centring first, then the tail — that is where this printing’s ink obstruction shows.
The four printings of Base Set each have their own price and history: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
PSA 8 prices from PriceCharting sold-comp data, September 2026. Unlimited and 4th Print look nearly identical — the copyright year is the difference. Each printing is its own card with its own price and history; see every printing: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
About This Card and Set
Vulpix, card 68/102, is a Common from the English Base Set — the 102-card launch expansion Wizards of the Coast released on 9 January 1999. The 1st Edition run is the first of the four English printings: every card carries a black “Edition 1” stamp beneath the lower-left corner of the artwork, and the run was struck on the shadowless template, with thinner text weight and no drop shadow behind the illustration window.
The design reaches further back than the card. Vulpix is the six-tailed kitsune of Japanese folklore, and the evolution line borrows the kyūbi no kitsune — the nine-tailed fox bound up with the Tamamo-no-Mae legend, the court spirit said to have bewitched Emperor Konoe before fleeing to the plains of Nasu. That inheritance is the reason Ninetales, #12 in the same set, reads as the finished fox.
Vulpix is an oddity among Base Set commons in that it is defined less by its artwork than by its printing faults. The same Sugimori illustration was reused for Base Set 2 (99/130) and Legendary Collection (98/110), and the source file’s quirks travelled with it. Two faults are catalogued below, and for one of them the 1st Edition genuinely is the version to find — the inverse of the usual Base Set pattern, where the stamp is the most common variant in the best condition.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 22.8% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 9.5% come back grade 6 or below, and the rest land in between — which is what set the price ladder above. The odds column is the number that matters, because high-grade supply is what the market actually pays for.
Vulpix has the widest gap in this batch: a Gem Mint rate of 22.8% against a raw cost near $39, and the rare 1st Edition fault on top.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Vulpix (1999) | ~639 | ~2,803 | 22.8% |
| Charizard ex #199, S&V 151 (2023) | 29,679 | 102,490 | ~29% |
PriceCharting population data, September 2026. The modern row is a combined PSA + CGC count; the 1999 row is PSA, the way it is normally quoted.
For scale, a comparable modern chase card converts to a gem grade at roughly 29%. Modern cards grade far better than vintage ones — not because they are better cards, but because a 1999 card was printed before grading was mainstream and then spent two decades in a binder.
Source: the PSA-only figures behind the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, September 2026. Two caveats stay attached to every population figure on this site. Graded counts are submission tallies, not unique cards — resubmissions inflate the total. And the census is a floor, not a final number.
Known Error Cards
Two errors are documented on Vulpix #68. The “Blue Butt” Vulpix is a cyan-layer obstruction — a blue ink mark in the artwork, described variously as on the butt, the upper thigh or near the tail. It appears only on 1st Edition and Shadowless copies, and Bulbapedia notes the 1st Edition is notably rarer; PSA labels it “Blue Dot Err.” and CGC calls it “Blue Spot Error.” This is the rare case where the 1st Edition is the scarce version.
The second is the “HP 50” layout error, where Vulpix’s health is printed as “HP 50” instead of “50 HP.” It runs across 1st Edition, Shadowless and Unlimited alike, and was corrected only in the 1999-2000 print — so it is emphatically not a 1st Edition quirk. Bulbapedia also lists Base Set 2 among the prints carrying the reversed format.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Vulpix is collected for a folklore inheritance and a fault that runs the other way from the rest of the set:
- The kitsune, inherited. The nine-tailed fox of Japanese folklore runs straight into Ninetales, #12 in the same set.
- The scarce Blue Butt. The blue-ink obstruction is on 1st Edition and Shadowless, with the stamp notably rarer.
- A price floor few commons match. A 22.8% gem rate on a $39 raw is one of the widest gaps in the set.
The finished form is the Ninetales review; the Base Set hub covers the run.
The Artist: Ken Sugimori
Ken Sugimori is one of the illustrators who defined the look of the original English Pokémon TCG, and Vulpix is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Vulpix is the one common in this batch where the 1st Edition is genuinely the scarce version — the stamp carries the rarer fault.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Vulpix real or fake?
The 1999 Base Set cards are the most counterfeited in the hobby, and for a raw copy worth real money you cannot settle it from a photo. The checks that catch most fakes: the light test (a genuine card is essentially opaque — a faint dark core line between the layers; cheap fakes glow through), the stamp rule (a real 1st Edition stamp is crisp and sits under the ink, and counterfeiters add stamps to Unlimited cards — read it with the drop shadow and the 1995-99 copyright line, never alone), and the back (fakes perfect the front and neglect the Poké Ball, the blue tone and the repeated text). Above a few hundred dollars, a raw copy should get professional pre-authentication. The full fake-detection walkthrough covers all of it.
Should I grade this card?
Vulpix is the most interesting grading case here: a $39 raw, a 22.8% gem rate, and the rare 1st Edition fault. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.